Is the US Egg Industry "Evolving"?Agreement Raises Hopes for
Egg-Laying Hens

Yesterday The Humane Society of the United States announced an agreement
had been reached with United Egg Producers, the egg industry's main trade
association, to refrain from further state-based campaigns in favor of
federal legislation that would create uniform national welfare standards
for the nation's 280 million egg-laying hens. If enacted into law,
federal regulations would:

1) Eliminate new construction of barren battery cage housing systems and
replace the barren cages over time with "enriched colony cage" housing
systems that would nearly double each hen's current living space from
approximately 77 square inches to about 116 square inches per hen.
(Millions of hens currently have only 48 sq. in. of total living space in
a cage crammed with 8 or 9 hens.) The "enrichment" includes small
perches, dustbathing areas and nest boxes. Each 12-foot long by 4-foot
wide "enriched" cage would hold 40 to 60 hens. An "enriched cage"
operation of this type was opened in California in 2010 after CA voters
overwhelmingly supported Proposition 2 requiring more living space for
egg-laying hens in the November 2009 election.

2) Prohibit forced molting of laying hens by starving them of all food
for up to two full weeks in order to manipulate the economics of egg
production. For an explanation of forced molting including United Poultry
Concerns' 13 year campaign to prohibit the practice, see
http://www.upc-online.org/molting/

3) Require labeling of egg cartons to inform shoppers of the housing
system in which the hens who laid those particular eggs lived. For
example, "eggs from caged hens," "eggs from cage-free hens," or "eggs
from free-range hens."

5) Prohibit the sale of eggs and egg products nationwide that don't meet
these standards.

Many animal advocates fear that any effort to reform agribusiness
practices will placate the public with illusions of "humane" treatment of
farmed animals having no basis in the reality of actual farmed animal
production practices. They fear that advocacy for a compassionate vegan
diet is undermined and contradicted by campaigns that seek to mitigate
some of the cruelest abuses of an inherently animal abusing industry.
They fear that whatever welfare reforms are enacted into law will not be
enforced regardless, and that all efforts to reform animal agribusiness
are a betrayal of the animal victims. All of these fears are reasonable.

An additional reasonable fear in this particular case is that, should a
federal law be enacted, it will be a diluted version of the initial
proposals, and the cage, albeit "enriched" with tiny furniture including
nestboxes that are actually just plastic strips, will be established for
decades to come.

The position of United Poultry Concerns is as follows:

We hold that the best way to address poultry welfare issues is by
combining an affirmative animal rights-pro vegan advocacy with efforts to
improve conditions for the billions of birds who will never live to see a
vegan world. We believe that we owe it to the birds to do whatever we can
to make their lives less miserable through legislation and public
pressure, and to hold the industries that own them accountable. Left to
itself, animal agriculture has no morality.

We recognize there is little we can do to help animals trapped in food
production. The number of animals, the globalization, the human population -
the entire worldwide agribusiness system of producing animals, raising
animals, transporting animals, depopulating animals, slaughtering
animals, experimenting on animals - all of it is too huge, horrible,
hidden, and complicated to monitor, let alone control. Yet, we believe
that we cannot be held hostage to these factors and that, as activists,
we must pursue every avenue on behalf of farmed animals, including that
of welfare reform, but without overstating what can actually be
accomplished. We should avoid hyperbole, stick to the facts, and tell the
unvarnished truth. We must educate the public to understand that the only
true way to animal welfare - to animals faring well - lies in eliminating
the demand for animal products in favor of vegan food.